From where I stand…

Monthly Archives: March 2017

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” ― Henry David Thoreau

The beauty of simplicity. I’ve been having fun with these tulips this past week, watching them slowly opening and shooting them from various angles, enjoying the way the light plays inside them, noticing the fine details and structures in the petals. And, I intend to keep enjoying them, till the next batch arrives and eventually my garden provides its own treasures.

“I KNOW A LITTLE PUSSY”I know a little pussy
Her coat is silver gray
She lives down in the meadow
Not very far away.

Though she is a pussy
She’ll never be a cat.
She is a pussy willow.
Now what do you think of that”
– Author Unknown

Finally, a taste of spring, though still store bought, it focuses my attention on something other than snow and ice, which I have had about enough of.

The included poem is a traditional school poem that my late father-in-law, Maurice used to quote, frequently. He’s embellish it with the closing line of meow, meow, meow, SCAT! It’s a fond memory of him, especially for my kids.

This is another one of those photos that really makes me question just how observant I am. I had no idea that the bases of the cat-toes were yellow. That would make sense, since this is the willow “flower” and thus, should enable pollination. The world of macro photography has a firm grip on me, as I explore the world around me with new vision.

How such a simple thing can be so beautiful brings a smile to my face and has me asking new questions about how the natural systems around me actually work. For example, now that I have noticed the pollen, I wonder how they are pollinated. Is it the wind, birds, bees, or other insects. It bears further investigation.

“Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe

These tulips are providing me with lots of interesting angles. As I’ve said so many times before, until you really take the time to ‘look’ at something, so much is missed.

We’ve had tulips in our gardens since I was a child. They sat on our kitchen table, as cut flowers, for much of the spring. Of course, we ‘noticed’ them but never observed them in their totality.

That, is one of my greatest joys with photography; being able to capture good images that I can spend time with at a later date. Blogging has made that experience more significant because now I’m able to consider my images further and more deliberately and be able to express those feelings, to the best of my ability, in words, hopefully inspiring others along the way.

I’m often entranced with some of the simpler images, those of mundane things, and the sheer detail that’s often present there, overlooked by the casual eye.

This image, a single shot, was made at a fairly extreme aperture, as I tried to capture the depth of the flower, without the need for focus stacking or other techniques.

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favourite door photos from around the world.

“Church of the Redeemer” – Toronto

I have missed this beautiful door on the past few visits, as the church itself was undergoing renovations. The benefit to those renovations is that now we are presented with nicely restored doors.

There is something about the contrast of the rich red-brown doors and the slightly yellow limestone arches. Despite the renovations, there is still a nice patina on the stones of this church, which was founded in September 3, 1871. Old photos I’ve recently found are a sharp contrast to this church, which at the time, sat on farmland on the edge of a growing city. Have look at the Streetview compared to the unattributed 1879 image.

If you look back to last week’s post you will notice that the church is essentially across my right shoulder as I made the image of the museum doors.

“Well, best to remain vigilant. It’s when everything is calm that you need to be most alert.” ― Brandon Sanderson

Above is an image of a pair of Canada Geese, standing guard on a path leading to the shores of Lake Ontario. Those familiar with Canada Geese know that they can be very territorial, especially later in the spring, during nesting season.

I stood and watched them for a bit before approaching them. They had been standing here, barely moving for quite some time and I watched how they reacted as people approached. In the end, they simply stood their ground, the gander letting out a brief hiss of warning if anyone approached a bit too closely.

Having witnessed this, I walked past them and they barely batted an eye. On my return, they still had not moved and were still doing an excellent job at keeping visitors uneasy.

A very brief post for today’s texture and a cliche title. I’m feeling a bit unoriginal right now and really, this cactus had the longest needles, proportionally, that I have ever seen. I would dread bumping into this by accident.

I made the image while on a recent trip to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico and the gardens around the town are filled with cacti. Not surprising, given that this region of Mexico is primarily desert.

“I love tulips better than any other spring flower; they are the embodiment of alert cheerfulness and tidy grace”― Elizabeth von Arnim

Spring is still playing hide and seek, but the local grocery store has a nice selection of spring blooms, including these lovely pink tulips.

At first glance they appear to be such simple things until you get up close and notice all the beautiful structure. I also enjoyed the colour variance from the pale yellow at the flower base to the bright pink fringes.